# Adultery and Rape

## Islamic Guidance and Jurisprudence

### By Dr. Lutf ur Rehman, Nashville, Tennessee, USA

Family is the basic unit of any society. Maintaining the integrity of this basic unit is an extremely important task of any social setup. If the family disintegrates the whole society suffers. The social science has too much evidence to show the negative effects of a broken family. It, therefore, makes sense for any social setup to give great importance for maintaining a strong family structure which is focused on the well being of both the husband and the wife and provides them a safe and effective environment to raise the next generation, their children, so the cycle of life can continue. A single most important thing which can break up a marriage is adultery. In fact, this comes up as the single most important cause of marital breakdown in many surveys. A recently published article in the peer reviewed journal, Couple Family Psychology, mentions the following, “The most commonly reported major contributors to divorce were lack of commitment, infidelity, and conflict/arguing. The most common 'final straw' reasons were infidelity, domestic violence, and substance use.” (Reasons for Divorce … Published in final edited form as: Couple Family Psychol. 2013 Jun; 2(2): 131–145.) Sexual relations before marriage or having children before marriage and then entering into marriage were all negatives compared to those who never had sex before marriage and those who did not have children before entering marriage. “Among couples who entered marriage with a shared biological child (premarital parents), satisfaction levels were lower and communication was less effective, less positive, and more negative than couples entering marriage without children. Rates of change in marital functioning did not differ between groups, but the rate of marital dissolution was twice as high among premarital parents (19.1%) relative to couples who were not parents at the start of marriage (9.5%). These between-groups differences remained robust after controlling for several demographic differences (race, age, education, household income, work status, relationship length, premarital cohabitation), and initial differences in communication did not account for between-groups differences in marital satisfaction or dissolution.” (J Fam Psychol. 2020 Apr;34(3):279-290. doi: 10.1037/fam0000596. Epub 2019 Oct 14. Premarital parenthood and newlywed’s marital trajectories) Adultery (Arabic = Zināʾ bil Raza) is defined as sex outside of marriage. It is considered illicit sex in all major religions of the world. This has also been the case in almost all the societies of the world throughout human history, present era being an exception especially in the Western World. Even in this day and age of promiscuity in the West, the data shows that the marriages breakdown if one or both parties are engaged in extramarital affairs. Religion of Islam provides detailed guidance and even prescribes punishments for those who engage in this destructive behavior to protect the basic family unit particularly and the social integrity in general. Today I will discuss the measures Islam suggests to protect the individuals from adultery and also punishments prescribed in this matter. I would also address the issue of rape or non-consensual sexual violence perpetrated mostly against women.